


Take Me Dancing Tonight

by vivaforever597



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: F/F, Falling In Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 02:11:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9152974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivaforever597/pseuds/vivaforever597
Summary: Mari wants a dance, and Kanan isn't sure if she's agreeing for Mari's sake or hers. (T for attempted washi-washi.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Well. I've been _bumping_ Mylène Farmer and Sting's "Stolen Car" the past couple days, and the lyrics are so wonderfully evocative that they practically demanded I write something... I considered making this into a full AU to incorporate the full lyrics of the song, but this idea based on just the chorus kind of grabbed me instead, because damn if those lyrics don't describe our Mari perfectly. Might come back to do that AU at some point (whether with LLS or another fandom). Or might not. Who can say.
> 
> Like so many other Kanamari fics, this is set after their come-to-Jesus moment in episode 9, and like nearly every Mari fic, the italics indicate her English (or French, as the case may be).

_Please take me dancing tonight - I’ve been all on my own_  
_The promises of one day, one night, I hear them like a psalm_  
_I’m just a prisoner of love, prisoner of my faults_  
_[Take me dancing... please take me dancing tonight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQkkmYIu95I)_

 

Kanan raises her head to peer at the girl next to her. In the past, Mari would have felt her gaze and met it, but today, she continues staring down as the last of her tears fall.

They’ve been sitting there in the dark club room for what seems like ages but can only have been a few minutes, each of them quietly collecting herself, the only sound their respective sniffles as their shared cathartic moment subsides. Finally, Kanan senses rather than forms the soft smile on her face, and reaches over to touch the other girl’s arm.

“Are you all right?” she asks. It’s a foolish question, she knows. Of course Mari isn't all right. But her impulse to care won’t let her stay silent.

Mari sniffles loudly and wipes at her nose. She’s not a lady – some things never change. “I guess I will be,” she says, a little grudgingly. There’s a somewhat uncomfortable silence. “I haven’t been,” she adds peevishly.

“I’m sorry.” Kanan cringes inwardly. That doesn’t even begin to cover it, she knows. “Can I do anything?” she asks weakly. “To... to...”

“To make up for it?” Mari seems genuinely amused. For a second Kanan expects her to laugh in her face. She has a perfect right to, after all. After everything Kanan’s done, what _could_ make up for it? “Well,” Mari says, “you could start by letting me rest on _these_...” Kanan bats Mari’s hand away as it reaches for her breasts, but angles closer to Mari to allow her to rest her head there. Somehow it doesn’t seem lewd, or even overtly sexual. Just natural, for Mari’s body to be against hers...

She shakes herself out of it. “I could _start_ with that?” she prompts.

Mari stares up at her for a second, pondering. “You could dance with me,” she says.

Kanan can think of a dozen protests. There’s no way Mari will be able to match her grace, for one. But she swallows them. She owes Mari this much, at least. “There’s not much space in here,” she observes instead. “Or any music.”

Mari surprises her by giggling. _“No problem!”_ she says. “We’ll just push the table toward the wall...” She gets up, expecting Kanan to follow her. She does. “See?” Mari says a moment later. “Plenty of room!”

It’s not exactly Kanan’s idea of “plenty of room” – certainly, there’s not much room for the bounding steps she’s used to, but she decides that for once, she can give in to Mari’s whimsy. “And the music?” she asks.

Mari happily taps her pocket, then pulls out a smartphone. _“Right here!”_ She immediately begins tapping and scrolling on the device, until an electronic beat begins to escape from it. She sets it on the table, the volume at maximum, and takes Kanan’s hand and waist. Kanan lets her. She owes her, after all... and come to think of it, she doesn’t actually mind that much.

Mari begins singing along, changing the lyrics as she sees fit. _“Je suis girls’ high school director!”_ she chirps, and Kanan resists the urge to tell her that the only thing worse than her English is her French. She won’t risk hurting Mari again just now, and anyway, just now, somehow her mangling the foreign languages seems...

Charming. Inexplicably, but utterly, charming.

It’s an odd sort of dance, constrained by their space into a pacing movement, back and forth along the length of the room. Kanan has a feeling that she’s going to remember it for a while.

The song seems to end in a matter of seconds. Kanan stands still, still holding Mari in a frozen pose, then looks down to see her face. Mari is looking up at her with tears glistening in and around her eyes, but now the grotesque contortions of her ugly cry have been replaced with a sweet, soft smile.

Kanan is captivated. This is the Mari she remembers – there’s no doubt about that – but something seems different. As if there’s a new layer to her, one that Kanan vaguely recognizes but can’t quite place. One that wasn’t part of Mari before... or maybe one that she just didn’t notice.

“Another?” Mari whispers, and Kanan nods her agreement. Whether for Mari or for herself, she’s not sure.

But, she thinks, does it matter?


End file.
